


Transform

by PhoenixDowner



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: And by that I mean world reveal spoilers, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Nothing major with gameplay or plot, Romance, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts III, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-23 02:48:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17072045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixDowner/pseuds/PhoenixDowner
Summary: Donald, fed up with Sora forgetting to return his calls, decides to enact his revenge. Once Kairi gets involved, he realizes this just might be the perfect opportunity to give fate an extra push.





	1. Merman

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alja/gifts).



“Sora’s ignoring me again, is he? Well, we’ll see what he thinks about this!”

Donald threw his phone to the ground and raised his staff in the air, cackling at what he was about to do.

This would get Sora’s attention all right. It would get it for sure.

* * *

There was a flash of light. Sora’s legs joined together and his body crumpled to the ground. He yelped, and Kairi stared at him as he sprawled out on the sand below her, her eyes wide.

“Sora?”

He likewise looked back at his lower half, his eyebrows knitted together. “What the— oh.”

The shallow surf crashed against his big, blue tail.

“You’re a merman,” she noted, though it kinda went without saying.

Sora rolled over, laid his head against the sand, and groaned. “Again? Seriously?”

This probably should have come as a bigger surprise, but last week he’d turned into a vampire, so all things considered, this wasn’t all that weird.

Kairi rested her hands on her hips and leaned over him. “You forgot to call Donald again, didn’t you?”

He chuckled and scratched his cheek. “Uh, guilty as charged?”

She shook her head and sighed. “Where’s your phone?”

“It’s in my pocket— oh.”

There was a slight problem with that. He didn’t have his shorts right now because he had a big old dolphin tale instead. He didn’t even have his shirt. It had disappeared along with the rest of his clothes.

Kairi coughed and cleared her throat. “We can call him on my phone,” she said, tearing her eyes away from his chest and tail to look at his face.

“That’d be great.”

He watched as she called Donald from her phone, pacing back and forth above him.

“Hey, Donald, it’s Kairi. Yup, Sora’s a merman right now. He doesn’t have his phone on him so I thought I’d give you a call instead.” She frowned and clutched the phone tighter. “You want pictures as proof? Uh, okay.”

“Pictures this time?! Really?”

Kairi ignored his interruption. “I send you the pictures and you’ll turn him human again? Yes, that sounds good. Bye.”

She hung up the phone and glanced at him. “Donald wants pictures.”

Sora groaned again. “All this punishment for forgetting to return his call. Alright, just get it over with.”

Kairi took a few snapshots and sent them to Donald, then tucked her phone into her pocket and sat next to him.

“Now we wait,” she said, rocking back and forth on her heels. Sora stared up at her. The dress she was wearing was really cute, blue and white stripes with her red hair tucked behind a matching blue headband.

Her eyes flickered to his tail, then out to sea again. Then she looked back at his tail, then out to sea.

“Can I touch it?” she blurted out.

“Oh, um, sure,” he said, not really sure what else to say.

Face flushing, she moved closer. The waves lapped at the hem of her dress and washed over his tail. It had been a while since he’d had one, but the feeling wasn’t really that strange or new anymore.

Until Kairi’s hand brushed against it. She stared at him, fascinated, her fingers gently stroking his now-rubbery skin.

Why did it feel so… so… good?

“Woah, cool,” she said, a smile spreading across her face. “I always did like mermaid stories. Remember those games we used to play when we were kids?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Where I was a mermaid and you and Riku were sailors?”

“Uh-huh.”

She grinned. “Who would’ve thought you’d be the merman instead?”

She turned her attention back to his tail and ran her fingers all over it, giggling when he squirmed, grinning when he let out a soft sigh, her eyes wide in wonder at it all. She added her other hand to the mix, and Sora found himself wishing he didn’t have a tail right now. What would it feel like for her to actually—

There was a flash of magic that blinded him for a few seconds. When he could see again, he was wearing his shirt, he was wearing his shorts, his tail was gone, and Kairi’s hands were resting on his calves.

Her face turned bright red as their eyes met, and she quickly backed away from him.

“H-hey look, Donald came through,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear and avoiding his eyes.

“Yeah.” A lot of awkward things went through his head that he didn’t dare say out loud.  _Kairi, please touch me again_  sounded wrong no matter how he tried to word it.

So he didn’t, just stood and brushed the sand off himself and helped Kairi to her feet.

“Shall we?”

* * *

Donald swiped through the photos Kairi had given him and sighed.

“Boring, boring, boring. I see Kairi still hasn’t gotten the hint.” He tapped his beak. “Hmmm… Let’s see… next time…”

He thought of their recent journeys, and inspiration struck. “I got it!”

Lifting his wand again, he cackled to himself over the next transformation.

Kairi was sure to like this one.


	2. Toy

“Sora? Where are you?” Kairi called, looking this way and that. One moment he’d been walking by her side on the way to get ice cream, and the next— 

“Kairi, down here!”

Kairi looked at her feet and gasped. A small toy was staring up at her, its hands resting on her shoe. It… kind of looked like the action figurines Sora and Riku had collected when they were kids. All blocky pieces with joints connected by pegs for easy movement.

No, wait, hang on. Brown hair, blue eyes, black clothes—  

“Sora?” she squeaked. But how?

He climbed on top of her shoe, then rested his face in his hands and sighed. “Donald’s magic at work again.”

Donald’s magic was truly impressive. Sora really did look like a toy. If it weren’t for the fact he could walk and talk, she very well might have mistaken him for one.

And… he was also… kinda… really… cute.

Oh, geez. As he looked up at her with that pout on his tiny face, she fought the urge to scoop him up and squeal over how adorable he looked as a toy. His dignity had already taken enough of a hit as it was.

“What did you do this time?” she asked, trying to get her mind onto something else.

“Nothing! I didn’t do anything!”

“Hmmmm.” She considered this for a moment. There had to be a reason for Donald’s wrath, right? Well, either way, Sora couldn’t move very fast in his current form. Stooping low, she held her hand out to him. “Here, you can ride on my shoulder for now.”

He jumped onto her hand and sat down. Slowly, gently, she brought him close, marveling at all the detail in his toy design. Seeing how small he was right now, she couldn’t help but think that she quite literally held his life in her hands. Especially with the way he was looking up at her right now.

She took it all in, his head, his arms, his outstretched legs, then finally her eyes rested on his small black boots.

Wait a second. She tilted her head to get a closer look. Sure enough, written on the soles of one of them in shiny silver ink were the letters K-A-I-R-I.

She stared. Had Donald—

“What is it, Kairi?” Sora asked, looking up at her.

“N-nothing.” She brought him the rest of the way to her shoulder so he could hop on. “What do you say I carry you to my place? We can call Donald and take the pictures and stuff there. It’s gonna get dark outside soon.”

As she tried to get over the fact that Sora was just casually sitting on her shoulder as she walked up the familiar road home, she couldn’t help but wonder.

Why was her name written on his shoe?

* * *

Kairi’s house was pretty big, but Sora never thought he’d live to see the day he’d say the same about her dollhouse, too. **  
**

She was talking on the phone to Donald when he spotted it in the corner. Huh. What was it doing there? Just like his action figure collection was collecting dust, she hadn’t really played with her dolls in years.

Curious, he made his way over to it and slipped inside the front door. The walls were covered in purple wallpaper, and he wandered around the hallway for a while, impressed by how realistic the candlesticks on the wall seemed now that he was the right size. The little mirror on the wall even showed his reflection, too.

He touched his blocky hair. His spikes really were, well, spiky now. It was kinda weird to look at his own face and see a toy staring back.

Next was the dining room. The table was filled with dozens of tiny plates and lots of food. Too bad it was all just plastic, that rotisserie chicken looked good enough to eat.

Finally he opened the door to the living room and stopped. There was a fake fire going in the fireplace, and sitting on the couch by it were two dolls, a man with brown hair and a woman with red hair.

They didn’t move, as they weren’t like him. But still… red hair and brown hair? Sitting next to each other? Was it just a coincidence, or…

Well, even if it was, Sora had an idea. By the time he was through, the man’s arm was around the woman, and her head sort of rested on his shoulder, inasmuch as he could get them to pose like that. **  
**

Satisfied with his handiwork, he exited the dollhouse and went to find Kairi. It wasn’t long before Donald held up his end of the deal and turned him human again.

As he said goodnight, he couldn’t help but hope she would see his message. Not just see it, either; understand and respond somehow, too.

* * *

Donald swiped through the next set of pictures. Kairi had put more effort into them this time, going out of her way to get Sora to make goofy poses that about had Donald in tears.

“This is just too good,” he said about the one where he faced off against her dresser with a silly look on his face.

The best one overall, though, was a selfie of him and Kairi. He was sitting on her shoulder and grinning, and she was likewise smiling at the camera.

“Hmmm… better, but could still use some improvement.”

Fiddling with his wand, he prepared the next phase of his plan. Kairi wouldn’t be able to resist this next transformation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to Alja again for helping me come up with ideas for the story! She was the one who suggested Sora see Kairi’s dollhouse. And chachacharlieco’s sokai Toy Story art was also a big inspiration :) 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> (Also if I haven't responded to your comment yet, it's because I suspect it might contain spoilers for the latest trailers, which I haven't seen)


	3. Lion

Kairi yelped. Sora’s hands and feet had just turned into paws, his nails into claws. His spiky hair was now a messy mane and his nose had become a snout. **  
**

He was an actual lion. Not a vampire, not a toy, not even a merman. An actual lion. For his previous transformations he’d still sort of looked like himself, but now he was a full-blown animal. It was a good thing his dad was at work right now and his mom was out shopping. Who knows what they would think about seeing their son like this, and sprawled out on their living room floor, no less.

She had to admit, though, he looked really cute. He was bigger than a pet cat but smaller than a full-grown lion. His fur looked awfully soft, too. What would it feel like to touch it?

He buried his face beneath his paws and groaned. “Again?”

Her jaw dropped. “You can talk?!”

He lifted one paw to give her an icy blue glare. “Why wouldn’t I be able to?”

“I don’t know, maybe because you’re an animal?”

“I’m human,” he ground out, his lips curling back to reveal a set of very sharp-looking teeth.

She brought her hand to her mouth to try to stifle her giggle. “You look an awful lot like a lion to me.”

He tucked his chin over his paws and sighed, his tail swishing back and forth. A tuft of brown fur poked off the end of it, and she watched as it flicked back and forth.

“I don’t suppose you did something to annoy Donald this time?” she asked.

“Nope. He’s just really getting a kick out of messing with me.”

Kairi fished her phone out of her pocket. “Time to send him more photos then, I guess.”

But Donald didn’t respond. Not even after half an hour had passed after she’d sent the pictures.

Weird.

Well, so long as Sora was stuck like this, she might as well make the most of it.

She patted the spot next to her on the couch. “Here, come sit next to me.”

He stopped his sulking and did as she asked, coiling his hind legs beneath him so he could spring up and land gracefully beside her.

“Mind if I pet you?”

He was silent for a moment. “Go ahead,” he finally said.

She ran her fingers through his soft fur and messy mane, being sure to scratch behind his ears and under his chin. He closed his eyes and tilted his face so she could get a better angle, and he really seemed to like it when she found this one spot in particular and scratched it. When she tried to touch his paws, though, he pulled back from her.

“Sorry, that kind of tickles,” he admitted.

So she went back to stroking the fur on his face and back. His eyes blinked slowly, and she found herself getting sleepy, too. Gently picking him up (and ooomph, he was pretty heavy despite his size!), she lifted him into the air so she could move her legs onto the couch.

His eyes went wide for a moment, but then she put him back down, this time on top of her. He curled up on her stomach and rested his chin on her chest, his paws flexing as he relaxed, his claws digging into her shirt a little but not in a way that hurt.

She smiled sleepily at him and ran her fingers through his fur and mane. He let his big blue eyes close as he drifted off into the realm of dreams, and she along with him.

* * *

A big heavy blanket was draped over her. Nice and warm and comfortable, like the ones she liked to bundle herself beneath. Sora’s mom must’ve—

Wait. Her eyes flew open.

That wasn’t a blanket. It wasn’t a blanket at all.

“Sora?” she squeaked, heart pounding and face flushing. He was the one draped over her, his head resting on her chest, his weight pressing against hers, his legs dangling over the edge of the sofa. His eyes were closed and his breathing even, a soft smile resting on his face.

He definitely wasn’t a lion anymore, and he looked so peaceful snoozing there that she didn’t want to wake him up.

She ran her fingers through his hair. It was soft and silky, not all that different from how his lion fur had been. He sighed in his sleep and snuggled deeper into her chest, murmuring something she couldn’t quite make out.

Her arms went around him, and she rested her head against his.

She could afford to let their nap last a little longer.

* * *

Sora was vaguely aware of something warm beneath him, something soft pressed against his cheek. He nuzzled it and—

Hang on. Eyes fluttering opening, he was met with Kairi’s shirt. He looked up, and Kairi’s face was only inches away from his, her cheek resting against his hair, her eyes closed and a soft smile on her face.

Oh geez. His face got hot when he realized what had happened, where his head was resting now. What would Kairi say if she woke up and caught him like this?

But… her arms were around him, keeping him there like she wanted him to stay…

Well… who was he to argue?

He snuggled into her embrace and sighed, her gentle heartbeat steady against his cheek. As he likewise wrapped his arms around her and drifted back to sleep, he couldn’t help but think this was worth Donald turning him into a vampire, a merman, a toy, heck, even a lion.

* * *

Kairi woke up again sometime later with Sora still snoozing on top of her. Bringing her hand to his hair, she ran her fingers through it again. It really did feel nice to hold him in her arms like this. He looked so peaceful, so calm while he slept, like he didn’t have a care in the world.

Too bad her phone buzzed loudly in her pocket right at that moment. Sora’s eyes flew open and met hers. His face flushed, and now her face was burning too, well aware of every inch of his body that was in contact with hers right now.

He coughed and sputtered and extracted himself from their tangle of limbs as quickly as he could, and her body already missed his warmth.

“Sorry, guess I turned back sometime while I was asleep,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding her eyes.

“It’s okay,” she said, pulling her phone out of her pocket so she could check Donald’s message. “At least you’re back to normal now.”

Did he catch the hint in her voice? If he did, he didn’t say anything. Just mumbled some excuse about how he should probably get some chores done before his mom got back.

Well, even if he couldn’t take a hint, she could. She said goodbye for now and left his house, wondering all the way home what on earth had just happened. Had she imagined things, or—

Well, it didn’t matter. If Donald kept this up, for all she knew he’d be a fish tomorrow. What was his plan? Why was he doing this? It wasn’t about Sora forgetting to call him back now. It hadn’t been since he’d turned Sora into a merman.

She put her face in her hand and groaned. “Seriously, Donald? Could you maybe tell us why you’re doing this? Or are we going to cycle through every stupid magic spell you know till we figure it out?”

She took out her frustration on a rock along the path. She had the feeling she knew the answer to that without even having to ask.

* * *

Donald looked through the pictures Kairi had sent him. This was no good, they were a lot more boring than the toy pictures had been.

He rested his head in his hand and strummed his fingers against it.

“I was sure Kairi would like seeing you as a lion. Girls love cute fluffy things.”

Cute fluffy things. Cute fluffy things. He grinned. He had the perfect idea for the next transformation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to Alja for suggesting the nap idea!
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed :)


	4. Monster

It had been ages since Kairi had last had Sora and Riku over to spend the night, but finally the opportunity presented itself. They watched a silly movie, got into a heated pillow fight that ended in a draw, and played cards before finally crashing in her room with Sora and Riku on the lower mattress of her trundle bed. **  
**

Sora fell asleep first, of course. He was out as soon as his head hit the pillow. She and Riku chatted for a while until Sora tried to cuddle with Riku in his sleep and accidentally clocked him in the face in the process. Riku just groaned and excused himself to the couch on the landing for some space.

“It’s okay, Kairi. Sora and I can’t really both fit on the mattress anymore, anyway,” he said as he took his blanket and pillow and closed the door behind him.

It was just her and Sora in the room now. She watched his peaceful form as he slept, his blanket bundled around him, his messy hair poking out over the top. What she wouldn’t give to have the chance to run her fingers through it again, but she had no transformation to use as an excuse this time.

Until she woke up a few hours later to see a monster staring her in the face. She barely had time to scream before the monster in question placed its clawed hand over her mouth.

“Shhhh, Kairi, it’s just me.”

“Sora?” came her muffled response. She pried his fingers off her mouth. “You’re a… monster?”

She couldn’t decide what kind of monster he was supposed to be, exactly. He had gray fur with black stripes, red webbed hair, pointy ears, no nose, and a catlike snout. His eyes were as blue as ever, but his legs looked a lot longer than normal and she thought she could make out a tail in the dim light too.

She sat back on her bed. “Let me guess, Donald?”

“Yup.”

She glanced at her phone. “It’s four AM. We can’t take pictures or call him now.”

“So I’m supposed to just stay like this till morning?” He rested his face in his hand and sighed. “Great, Riku’s never gonna let me live this down if he sees me like this. And your parents…”

“They don’t have to. We’ll just… wait till it’s light enough outside to take pictures.”

Two or three hours, more or less. That wasn’t too long a wait.

Right?

* * *

Sora was getting tired of this. Here he was, sitting in Kairi’s room at five AM as they tried to find something to talk about that might get their minds off the whole transformation thing when they should be fast asleep. And to make things worse, she kept staring at his body like he was some kind of freak. As if he needed another reminder of what he’d become. He had no idea why Donald thought this was so funny when really, it was embarrassing and awkward and—

Kairi’s hand moved to his chest, and everything else sort of went out of his head.

“You’re really… fluffy.” Her cheeks were pink as she ran her hand over his chest. “Your fur’s so soft.” She put her other hand over her mouth and giggled. “I think it’s the softest thing I’ve ever touched.”

Sora didn’t know what to say to that. Kairi’s hand just kept stroking him and it felt even better than when he’d been a merman and a lion. He closed his eyes and melted into her touch, imagining she was touching him for real, not just because he was a fluffy monster.

Then he felt the weight on the bed shift and before he knew it her cheek was leaning against his chest.

“So… fluffy…” she murmured, giggling as she nuzzled his fur. Oh, geez. Maybe it was a good thing he was a monster right now instead of a human. His heart was pounding enough as it was.

“This is gonna sound kind of weird… but… can you lie down?” she asked, looking up at him with a cute smile. “Your fur’s so soft I wanna see what it’s like to snuggle.”

“Uh, sure.”

He wrapped his arms around her and brought her close, hardly believing this was really happening. She rested her cheek against his chest before letting out a contented sigh.

“This feels amazing,” she murmured. “It’s like cuddling a ball of fluff.”

If only she knew how good this felt for him, too. Especially when she started stroking his fur again. Every touch was like heaven, knowing it was coming from her. He couldn’t help it. When she scratched behind his ears, a low purr escaped his throat.

She froze. “Did you just purr?” she asked, leaning back to give him an incredulous look.

_Seriously, Donald? Of all the things to equip me with…_

It was a good thing he couldn’t really blush in this form. “Uh…”

She giggled. “No, it’s cute. You don’t have to stop.”

She resumed her touches and scratches and he couldn’t help it, he started purring again. This made her giggle and double down on her efforts, looking for all the places that made him purr the loudest when she scratched or touched them.

Well, he couldn’t really complain. Kairi was in his arms like he’d always dreamed she’d be, even if he was some weird cat kappa hybrid monster. Maybe someday she’d let him hold her for real, as himself. Not as a merman or a vampire or a toy or a lion or a monster, not even as the boy she once knew. No, as himself, as he was now, as a… well, he hardly dared call himself a man, but he wasn’t really a boy anymore, either. So yeah, as a man.

He sighed. Wouldn’t that be the day.

* * *

The pictures Kairi sent this time were great. At some point Riku had entered the mix, and his howls of laughter and Sora’s reaction had been captured very well by her phone. That had led to them play fighting in Kairi’s room until Donald had turned Sora human again.

Not before Riku had snapped a few photos and even some videos to send as well, though. The best one of all was of Kairi scratching Sora’s chin and making him purr. The look in his eyes was blindingly obvious to anyone with half a brain. Kairi had to know by now, right?

But nope, she was still as clueless as ever. She even turned to Riku and said, “Here, you try!” As if that would have the same effect.

It didn’t.

Donald wanted to scream. “Kairi, seriously?”

He grew more and more agitated as he watched Riku pet Sora’s head and mutter to himself about how it was still pretty weird (and funny) that Sora was a cat monster. Sora complained that Riku’s scratches didn’t feel as nice as Kairi’s and gave the camera a pouty look. And Kairi was blissfully unaware of it all. She just giggled and continued filming the whole time.

Various quacking noises came out of Donald’s bill as he lifted his phone high in the air and threw it to the ground. Hundreds of tiny dark sparks came out of it, and he stared at it, mouth hanging open, until one last explosion sounded from it, leaving a very cracked, very broken phone in its wake.

He rubbed the back of his neck and let out a nervous chuckle. “Uh-oh, I didn’t mean to do that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sora purring in monster form was inspired by Alja :)
> 
> As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!


	5. Acceptance

Kairi stared at Sora. **  
**

Surely this had to be an accident. No way Donald’s sense of humor was this cruel. Something must have gone wrong, must have backfired. There was no other explanation. Not when this was still a dagger through all their hearts, Donald’s included.

Sora lifted a smoking hand in front of him, his haunted yellow eyes going from it to her. His entire body was smoky black and he was hunched over, holding himself like a— like a—

Kairi put her hand over her mouth, tears stinging at her eyes. Memories flooded back, of a Keyblade through his heart, of him disappearing before she could catch him, of that smile he gave her as he offered his life for hers. It didn’t matter if it was only temporary, it still hurt.

He stared at her with his soulless yellow eyes as she fought back the tears, then turned and fled on all fours.

“Sora, wait!” she cried, reaching out to him. “That’s not what I—”

He was already long gone. It would seem this form gave him lightning fast speed. As she was about to take off after him, her phone buzzed in her pocket. Goofy’s number.

“Goofy?” she asked, jogging along as quickly as she could with her phone in her hand. “I can’t talk, Sora’s—”

“I can’t change him back!” came Donald’s panicked voice. “Kairi, you have to help him, my magic’s not working!”

“Donald, what happened?”

“It was an accident, I didn’t mean to—”

As she suspected. “Calm down, Donald. I’m sure he knows you wouldn’t do this on purpose—”

“Kairi, please—”

“I know, I’m doing everything I can. I’ll talk to you soon. I think I know where to find him.”

With that she hung up the phone and continued her pursuit. If she knew Sora, he would be exactly where she had in mind.

* * *

_Cold. Dark. Fear. Sorrow._

_Go away, she doesn’t want you, you’re scaring her, you’re making her sad, she never wanted to see you like this, not again—_

_Why? Why is this happening, why is my body doing this?_

_Tear it away, get the darkness out, how is there so much darkness inside of me, it used to be a small shadow and now it’s this—_

_Did you see the look in her eyes when she saw you? She could never accept this part of you, there’s just too much darkness—_

He crashed into a rock. Darkness oozed out of his arms. He crashed into another rock. More darkness oozed out of his legs. Too much darkness everywhere. He stumbled onto the ground and curled in on himself, trying to keep the darkness contained, trying to keep it away from her.

She found him anyway.

“Sora,” her soft voice called, echoing through the little cavern. He huddled against the wall and covered his face, willing her to go away because he couldn’t tell her to anymore.

“Sora, you don’t have to run and hide from me,” she said, coming closer instead of going away.

_“Please, Kairi, just go away, why won’t you go away—”_

But all that came out were hisses and snarls, the only sounds he could make in this cursed form. Not even that phased her. She came closer still, and her warm hand rested on his cold arm. He flinched and cried out, but his voice wasn’t even his. It wasn’t much of a voice at all.

“It’s okay, Sora. I’m not afraid.”

_“You should be!”_

More hisses and snarls. But she just pulled his hands away. Instead of fear or loathing, there was only affection in her eyes and a smile on her face as she gazed at him.

“I don’t want you to be afraid, either. Your light and your darkness, it’s all just a part of you.”

He froze as she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her forehead against his. Her breathing was steady, even, her skin warm against his icy face. He focused on it, focused on her as everything else melted away. His own breathing slowed down and evened out till it matched the rhythm of hers.

She just held him like that for a while, hot against cold, light against dark, human against Heartless. No different from any of the other times he’d transformed, really. At least, she wasn’t treating him like it was any different, even though—

“No matter what form you take, Sora,” she said, her voice soft as she cupped his face and gave him a tender smile, “all I see is you.”

Her eyes closed and her lips found his, brushing against them in a gentle caress. Her warmth filled his heart and body, and her acceptance, given fully and freely, was stronger than Donald’s magic, stronger than the darkness, stronger than his fear and shame.

He’d been wrong. He’d been wrong about her, about him, about them. And boy what a relief that was.

His arms went around her and brought her close as he kissed her back. Not as anything but himself, because he knew now that was what she’d wanted. It was what she’d wanted all along.

* * *

Donald let out a sigh of relief as he opened Kairi’s message on Goofy’s phone. It was a picture of the two of them together in a dark cave-like area, and Sora was completely back to normal. His arm was around her and he had a big smile on his face that matched the smile on hers.

Donald likewise smiled. That was a relief, seriously. He sent a message apologizing to Sora and thanking Kairi again, then went to go find Goofy.

As he did, he couldn’t help but wonder. Maybe all those transformations hadn’t been necessary after all. Maybe Sora and Kairi would have come together on their own. Maybe their hearts working together had been enough to transform their bond into something new all along.

Well, all the same, it sure hadn’t hurt to give fate a little push in the right direction. Sometimes even destiny needed a little extra help, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that we’ve reached the end! What started out as just a fun discussion turned into this five part story, and I hope you all enjoyed. A big thank you again to Alja for all the suggestions and inspiration :)
> 
> Speaking of inspiration, the scene where Kairi tells Sora his light and darkness are both a part of him was inspired by a comic by 裸餅 (ra_mo_chi) on pixiv.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who bookmarked/kudos'd/commented! Just think, the Japanese release of KH3 is now only about a month away! It‘ll be here before we know it :)

**Author's Note:**

> Alja and I were talking about Kairi seeing Sora’s merman form, and soon we had a whole slew of ideas about Kairi seeing Sora’s other transformations. This story is dedicated to her as a thank you for the inspiration :) 
> 
> I’m hoping to get a continuation written soon to share with you all. Hope you’re enjoying it so far!
> 
> (Also, I promise I will look at comments when I can, I’m just in hermit mode for now to avoid KH3 spoilers!)


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